<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>When I Look at You, It's Like I'm Looking at Me by fangirl_in_a_trenchcoat</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28822833">When I Look at You, It's Like I'm Looking at Me</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/fangirl_in_a_trenchcoat/pseuds/fangirl_in_a_trenchcoat'>fangirl_in_a_trenchcoat</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Phantom Chronicles [8]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Julie and The Phantoms (TV), The Dark Artifices Series - Cassandra Clare, The Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Established Relationship, F/F, F/M, Good Parent Ray Molina, Julie took the braincell with her when she left, Luke and Carrie are drinking buddies, Luke and Carrie should not be allowed to drink, M/M, Mutual Pining, Shadowhunter AU, Underage Drinking, but Shadowhunters and werewolves have a different age limit so it’s legal, this might seem angsty but it is not I swear</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 12:07:09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>7,551</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28822833</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/fangirl_in_a_trenchcoat/pseuds/fangirl_in_a_trenchcoat</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>"I feel I should remind you that you're still together," Reggie said. "Like, you remember that, right? You didn't break up or anything? You can still go dancing and stuff?"</p><p>"Where, Reg? She lives in New York!" Luke looked at him, raising his hands in the air. "And this is just the beginning! What happens in one month when the next disaster hits and you don't have time to call? And then another month goes by and suddenly you've decided to break up because long distance never works and before you know it you're invited to her wedding, which is cruel really, because if Julie gets married I'm going to that wedding as the groom, not an awkward ex-boyfriend that says he's happy for her."</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Alex Mercer &amp; Luke Patterson &amp; Reggie Peters &amp; Carrie Wilson &amp; Willie, Alex Mercer &amp; Luke Patterson &amp; Reggie Peters (Julie and The Phantoms), Alex Mercer/Willie (background), Flynn &amp; Alex Mercer &amp; Julie Molina &amp; Luke Patterson &amp; Reggie Peters &amp; Carrie Wilson, Flynn &amp; Julie Molina, Flynn/Carrie Wilson, Julie Molina/Luke Patterson, Luke Patterson &amp; Carrie Wilson</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Phantom Chronicles [8]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2079396</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>73</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>When I Look at You, It's Like I'm Looking at Me</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Let’s review, shall we?" Carrie said.</p><p>"Please, no," Luke whined as he let his head fall back on the wall.</p><p>"No, you know, I think it’s vital that we do," Carrie said. "So, I was perfectly happy sulking around on my own..."</p><p>"You were not, don’t try to play it cool," Luke interjected immediately. "I’m a mess and so are you, we’re in this club together."</p><p>"I was not bothering anyone!" Carrie threw her hands in the air.</p><p>"Neither was I!" Luke said.</p><p>"That’s-" Carrie started to say, but her passion dissipated. "That’s true," she said almost confused. "Wait, is this all..."</p><p>"Reggie and Alex's fault? Damn right, it is," Luke said.</p><p>"Huh." She nodded in understanding. "Well at least now I know who I’m gonna haunt when I’m dead. Wanna join me?" she asked, turning to look at him.</p><p>"We are not going to die," Luke said, "I think. You know what, yes, I’ll join you. I have experience as a ghost, I’ll show you." Luke loved the guys to death, but if they got out of this alive, he was going to kill them.</p><p>Carrie groaned as she slipped down next to Luke. "What are we supposed to do?" she asked.</p><p>"Wait," Luke said with a sigh, "and pray that my name keeps us from getting killed."</p><p> </p><hr/><p><br/>10 HOURS EARLIER </p><p> </p><p>The music room was quiet. Well, maybe not one hundred percent quiet, because Luke was definitely producing some kind of melody. Then again this was too monotone to be a melody. It’s not like he knew much about the piano to play something nice anyway.</p><p>He heard the door opening somewhere on the background, but ignored it. He wasn’t hiding, everyone knew where to find him, but he just hoped they would get the message that he didn’t want to see anyone.</p><p>"Hey, buddy," Alex said softly, slipping in to sit beside him on the piano bench. Luke stopped pressing the same key in front of him and looked at Alex with a wounded look that was enough to make him get up.</p><p>"Why don’t I go grab a chair?" he said taking one of the chairs at the end of the room and sitting closer to Luke. At the same time, he heard the door closing and Reggie came up on his other side, but Alex shook his head before he could make the same mistake, so he immediately went in to grab a chair too.</p><p>Luke just went back to pressing that same key on the piano.</p><p>"So... what have you been up to?" Alex asked still with the same soft voice, almost as if talking to a child.</p><p>"Pain," Luke said.</p><p>"Okay," Alex whispered, a hand rubbing his forehead.</p><p>"Any new songs?" Reggie asked having sat next to Alex.</p><p>"No..." Luke said. What was he going to write a song about anyway?</p><p>"You want to revisit the old ones?" Alex offered. Luke turned around to look at him thinking he might start crying again.</p><p>"Okay, okay, my mistake, no songs," Alex hurried to say. "Can you just not..." he started, softly grabbing Luke’s right wrist moving his hand away from the piano. "This is not helping anyone."</p><p>"Life has no meaning anymore," Luke deadpanned.</p><p>"Do you maybe think that that’s like, just a little bit overdramatic?" Reggie asked tentatively.</p><p>"Overdramatic?" Luke asked in a tone that did nothing to help his case.</p><p>"Luke, I love you, but you need to pull yourself together," Alex said. "It’s been a week and you’ve lost your connection to the outside world. You can’t be spending your days looking at the piano and pressing the same key until the phone rings."</p><p>"What about Carrie?"</p><p>"Carrie has been throwing knives around in the training room," Alex said with a sigh proving he wasn’t glad about that either, "but at least she’s talking to people!"</p><p>"And coming on patrols," Reggie added.</p><p>"Because life has to continue," Alex said with a sad smile.</p><p>Luke sighed as he turned around on the bench and fell into Reggie in front of him who, even though unprepared, caught him in time. "I don’t wanna," he said, coming out muffled by Reggie’s shirt.</p><p>"You think Julie would want you to give up everything just because she’s not here anymore?" Reggie said holding Luke in place against him.</p><p>"She doesn’t, she told me," Luke said grumpily.</p><p>"There you go," Alex said encouragingly. "This band shares one braincell and that left with Julie when she went back to New York, if we don’t listen to her, we’re screwed."</p><p>"I didn’t want her to leave," Luke said, feeling his eyes well up. "Travel years are stupid." Because they knew this was going to last a year and then Julie and Flynn would go back to New York, but Luke really had no idea when a year had gone by. It felt like only yesterday that they’d both arrived helping them kill those demons on the beach and then Julie had heard him playing the guitar and she’d played the piano and she’d sung... God, he missed her.</p><p>"If it wasn’t for travel years you wouldn’t have met in the first place," Reggie said moving a hand up and down his back as Luke sniffled.</p><p>"Exactly!" Alex said. "And it’s not like you’re never gonna see each other again, Shadowhunters travel all the time..."</p><p>"Long distance relationships don’t survive," Luke said.</p><p>"How do you know?" Reggie asked.</p><p>"I've been surfing the internet," Luke said with a shrug.</p><p>"Wow, okay, let’s just get up," Alex said as he got up and grabbed Luke’s arm helping Reggie to raise him up too, "and go outside, okay? It’s nice to get some air sometimes to clear your head."</p><p>"I don’t want to clear my head," Luke said grumpily.</p><p>"You want to resort to something more mundane-ish?" Reggie asked.</p><p>"What are you talking about?" Luke asked already tired of everything.</p><p>"Go get Carrie," Reggie told Alex, "we don’t have to go on patrol tonight anyway."</p><p> </p><hr/><p><br/>"Are we sure this is a good idea?" Willie asked as he watched Luke and Carrie down the shots like they were nothing. Luke wasn’t much for alcohol, but maybe a night out wasn’t the worst thing on this earth.</p><p>"I’m gonna go with yes, for the time being," Alex said. "We'll see how the night goes."</p><p>"Do you have anything stronger?" Carrie asked.</p><p>"You know you’re technically underaged?" Willie said.</p><p>"So are you, now pour the drinks," she retorted. Both Shadowhunters and werewolves didn't have an exact age limit when it came to drinking. Willie had put it at at least eighteen in the bar even though Carrie was right, he was still technically not twenty one either, his birthday being in... a couple of weeks? Alex had been talking about it, but Luke was focused on getting a buzz going in his head right now.</p><p>"They do know the girls are not dead, right?" Willie asked Alex and Reggie as Carrie and Luke took another shot.</p><p>"They do, they do..." Reggie said looking at them. "I'm definitely ninety percent sure they do."</p><p>"William," Luke said, "you have this man right here," he continued, grabbing Alex's shoulder, making him sway a bit. "He's not going anywhere, he <em>lives</em> here. Los Angeles is great. I'm pretty sure it's better than New York."</p><p>"It <em>is </em>better than New York," Carrie agreed. "Okay, Alex, come with me," she said and got up from her stool. "We're dancing."</p><p>"We're what now?" Alex asked caught off guard by the sudden change in conversation.</p><p>"Alex," she whined, "dance with me."</p><p>"Hey, you dragged us here, the least you can do is go dance with Carrie," Luke said.</p><p>"Thank you, Luke. The <em>only</em> person who cares about me here," she said, pointedly looking at Alex.</p><p>"Okay, fine," Alex said with a sigh as him and Carrie joined the few other people who were dancing a few feet away.</p><p>"This is going <em>great</em>," Reggie said with determination, making Willie turn to him with a raised eyebrow.</p><p>"You sure about that?" he asked taking the last two shot glasses away from Luke before he could drink them.</p><p>"Hey!" he protested. "If you didn't bring me here to get drunk, what was even the point?" He looked at both of them, exasperated. He didn't think it was going to really help with anything, but they were in their twenties, maybe they should have some fun while they were at it. Something other than demons in their life.</p><p>"I'd say you're well on your way there," Willie said. "I thought you went through life playing music to cope with everyth-" he stopped when he noticed Reggie making some not so subtle gestures beside Luke, but it was already too late.</p><p>"What's the point?" he said letting his head fall on the bar with a groan.</p><p>"Is he okay?" he heard Willie asking, now genuinely worried.</p><p>"Well," Reggie started to say, but Luke cut him off with a sigh.</p><p>"No music's worth making without Julie..."</p><p>"That..." Reggie said softly, patting Luke's back. Luke raised his head, placing it on his arms in front of him, just in time to see Willie pushing one of the shots he'd taken away towards him again. Luke took it, raising the glass towards Willie and then drinking it.</p><p>"Okay, I'm sorry, can I ask something slightly off topic?" Willie said, looking somewhere behind Luke and Reggie evidently... Confused? Surprised? "Could Alex dance like that this whole year we've been together?"</p><p>Luke and Reggie turned around, seeing Carrie and Alex - who had long forgotten he didn't want to go up there in the first place - on the dancefloor, stealing the show. At least Carrie looked better than she did before, that was something.</p><p>"Yeah," Reggie said, "and a few years prior to that."</p><p>"Huh," Willie said looking at them, drinking the other shot he was holding himself.</p><p>Luke snorted looking at him. "You are so whipped, dude."</p><p>"I'm sorry, are we looking at the same thing?" Willie said as if his claims were irrefutable.</p><p>"Julie likes dancing too..." Luke said with a sigh as he played with the shot glass in front of him.</p><p>"I feel I should remind you that you're still together," Reggie said. "Like, you remember that, right? You didn't break up or anything? You can still go dancing and stuff?"</p><p>"Where, Reg? She lives in New York!" Luke looked at him, raising his hands in the air. "And this is just the beginning! What happens in one month when the next disaster hits and you don't have time to call? And then another month goes by and suddenly you've decided to break up because long distance never works and before you know it you're invited to her wedding, which is cruel really, because if Julie gets married I'm going to that wedding as the groom, not an awkward ex-boyfriend that says he's happy for her."</p><p>Willie stared at him for a few seconds, trying to figure out what was happening. He turned to Reggie who'd been nodding his head all this time as if Luke was making any sense. Maybe the alcohol had started getting to him more than he'd realized.</p><p>"He looked up long distance relationships online," he told Willie.</p><p>"Oh, God," Willie muttered with a sigh, "that wasn't what I meant when I said you should get more in par with modern technology and pop culture. Not all long distance relationships are doomed, Luke."</p><p>"How do you know? Alex is right there!" he said pointing at the boy in question who was coming back towards them, Carrie following.</p><p>"You do know I had a life before Alex, right?" he asked.</p><p>"You did?" Luke, Reggie and Carrie asked at the same time, almost surprised.</p><p>"I can't believe I'm friends with you..." Alex said, shaking his head.</p><p>"Yeah, I did," Willie said with a chuckle. "I did long distance once."</p><p>"Okay, so that means one of two things," Carrie said as she sat back down. "One, that went great and you're still together in which case I'm obligated to kill you for hurting Alex, or two, it did not work out and bringing it up is just cruel, dude. Which one should I go with?"</p><p>"It wasn't as much the long distance as it was the werewolf-mundane thing," he said with a shrug.</p><p>"You dated a mundane?" Reggie asked.</p><p>"And then moved on to a Shadowhunter?" Luke added. "You really like living on the edge, didn't you ever want something easier?"</p><p>"Luke, I love you and respect your pain, but please shut up," Alex said. Willie chuckled as he leaned in over the bar, kissing him.</p><p>"Ugh," Luke and Carrie both said, turning away, looking for Leah who was serving drinks a few feet away and signaling her for another round. If Willie wasn't going to serve them anymore they'd have to find a way around it.</p><p>"My point is, long distance can be hard, yes, but it's not impossible," Willie said.</p><p>"You know what's even better?" Carrie asked. "Living in the same place as them."</p><p>"That's a great point," Luke agreed. "You know what else is great?" he said just as Leah passed them a few more shots, Willie looking at her exasperated, but she just shrugged at him saying something along the lines of 'let them blow off some steam'. "Making music together and being in a band together and staying awake until 5 am to write songs..."</p><p>"And training at like 8 am when everyone else is still asleep because they stay up until 5 am writing songs and you have the training room to yourselves and talking about weapons and knives and new moves..." Carrie carried on with a sigh as she drank one of the shots.</p><p>"This was a bad idea," Reggie said as he took one of the shots downing too. The others turned to look at him confused. "What? I'm not dating either of them, but I miss them too. I listened to country with Julie and did target practice with Flynn daily."</p><p>"Uh oh," Willie said looking at all of them.</p><p>"God, I hate all of you," Alex said as he took a seat between Luke and Reggie drinking one of the shots too.</p><p>"No, babe, not you too..." Willie said, losing the last bit of hope he had.</p><p>"No, but like, Julie's the nicest and warmest person ever," Alex said, sadness seeping in his voice. "And Flynn's just as sarcastic as I am. That speaks to my soul."</p><p>"Welcome to the club," Luke said as he and Carrie raised a glass each towards them. Alex and Reggie did the same as they all took a drink.</p><p>"This is not how this night was supposed to go," Luke heard Willie saying, but the buzz was taking over his head for him to pay much attention.</p><p>Now, Luke wasn't what you'd call the utmost responsible person out there, but he still liked to believe that he could survive on his own in the outside world. He'd defend his ability to do so with his dying breath. </p><p>That claim wasn't exactly supported by the fact that after the next shot, everything became a blur in his head.</p><p>The first time his mind finally rebooted he wasn't in the bar anymore. He opened his eyes with a groan to realize he wasn't in the Institute either. The panic came when he couldn't recognize where he was at all. He wasn't alone though.</p><p>"Carrie," he said shaking her awake beside him. "Carrie, wake up!"</p><p>"What?" she whined as she stirred awake, opening her eyes slowly, scowling too. "Where the hell are we?" she asked as she looked around. The answer was a room, bare. There was light coming from somewhere, Luke couldn't exactly see where, but it felt natural.</p><p>"What did we do last night?" he asked, his hand flying to his pounding head. He had no stele on him and no way to get rid of the hangover.</p><p>"We drank," Carrie said, pushing herself to sit next to Luke, "a lot."</p><p>"No, I remember that," he said, "but the others wouldn't have let us leave, right?"</p><p>"I think Willie took us to his apartment," she said.</p><p>"This is definitely not Willie's apartment."</p><p>"Yeah, no shit." Carrie rolled her eyes as she got up and moved towards the door. There was something about the room, it almost felt... <em>Something </em>felt different.</p><p>Luke got up after her, squinting at the ceiling. Something was giving off light, but it wasn't a lamp, this almost fell like sunlight, which didn't make sense unless there was a spell involved and what kind of magic would-</p><p>"Wait." Luke froze as flashes of memories started going through his head. "We left Willie's after everyone fell asleep, we ended up in the Shadow Market."</p><p>"Why would we..." Carrie started to ask when her eyes widened. "Fuck. We didn't..."</p><p>"We did."</p><p>"Fuck!" she shouted again making them both wince at the loud sound. "Why couldn't we be regular drunk people who pass out at their friends' houses?"</p><p>"I don't know! I don't want to be here anymore than you do!" he said just as the door opened. Carrie took a step closer to Luke, both knowing there was no point in trying to run. They were in their territory now.</p><p>"You're awake," the faerie said.</p><p>"Listen, there's been a terrible misunderstanding," Luke started to say.</p><p>"You will have an audience with the King later, he'll decide on your fates," the faerie said.</p><p>"Woah, woah, wait, aren't we taking this a little too far?" Carrie said. "Wait, you said <em>K</em><em>ing</em>?" she suddenly did a double take. "We're in the <em>Unseelie</em> Court?"</p><p>"You are terrible spies," the faerie said.</p><p>"Isn't that enough to prove we're not spies? I like to think we're good at Shadow... hunting. Is that a verb?" He turned to Carrie who just glared at him. "Look, I'm Luke Blackthorn, that's Carrie Ashdown, please tell the King our names before this escalates too far. This is just a big misunderstanding."</p><p>The faerie didn't look pleased with what Luke had to offer. "It will be up to the King," he eventually said again, leaving the room and closing the door just as Carrie shouted 'wait!' to no avail.</p><p>"I believe that this is not as bad as it looks," Luke said still looking at the door.</p><p>"We crossed into the Unseelie Court unannounced out of the blue! We're Shadowhunters, we don't just show up with no reason usually!" Carrie said.</p><p>"Can you please stop shouting?" Luke said, massaging his temples.</p><p>"No, we deserve this. We deserve to feel the hangover because we're stupid. Who does that?" she said again, not lowering her volume.</p><p>"Yeah, there must have been a better way to deal with this," Luke said with a sigh as he sat back down. "I still think we can get away with this if we catch it before it reaches Shadowhunter ears."</p><p>"Don't we want this to reach Shadowhunter ears? How are we getting out of here? You're gonna explain to the King we were drunk because we're stupid? Because I don't know how believable the truth acually sounds," Carrie said sitting back down too.</p><p>"No, I was actually planning to remind him that I'm a great guy and that we've played music a few times together which proves I'm not a lunatic!"</p><p>Carrie looked at him for a couple of seconds, unblinking. "Luke, my head is trying to explode, so I'm gonna ask this once. What?"</p><p>Luke smiled. "You forget who the King is?"</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>"Rise and shine!" someone screamed, making Alex wince in pain, light suddenly filling the room. </p><p>"Don't scream," he whined, pulling the pillow over his head.</p><p>"I'm not screaming, you just have a hangover," the voice came again and Alex realized it was Willie. Did he sleep at his apartment last night?</p><p>"Shh," came another voice next to Alex and there was suddenly a hand on the pillow on his head. Did they all sleep at his apartment last night?</p><p>He slowly raised his head from under the pillow to see Reggie half asleep beside him in a similar state. Okay, how did <em>they </em>end up drinking as much as the other two? This was supposed to be for Luke and Carrie.</p><p>"You want some coffee?" Willie asked his voice now softer than before.</p><p>Reggie murmured something against the pillow that got lost.</p><p>"What was that?" Willie asked.</p><p>There was a small pause as Reggie turned his head around without opening his eyes. "Stele," he said again.</p><p>"Which is in...?"</p><p>"Jacket," Reggie said again, not using anymore words than necessary.</p><p>"Okay," Willie said and disappeared for a few seconds. Alex passed an arm over his head, trying to magically make the headache recede. He was never drinking again.</p><p>He looked up just as Willie came back, putting the stele in Reggie's hand. He still looked asleep, but his fingers closed around it.</p><p>"You're sure you can draw like that and you’re not going to self-combust or something?" Willie asked, a smile behind his voice.</p><p>"Please," Reggie said opening one eye and instantly regretting it when the light hit his face. "I can do this in my sleep."</p><p>"And he's planning to," Alex added.</p><p>"Yes, thank you," Reggie said as he raised his shirt slightly, blindly drawing an iratze next to his ribs. The rune glimmered against his skin and within seconds Reggie's face relaxed and he opened his eyes, blinking against the light. He lazily turned around, reaching for Alex's shirt and drawing an iratze in the same place he had his own.</p><p>Alex felt the pounding in his head going back to a dull ache, uncomfortable, but bearable. He took a second and eventually sat up, rubbing a hand over his face. What the hell did they do last night?</p><p>"This is amazing," Willie said. "I mean werewolves don't get drunk easily, but we can and hangovers are still a thing. You just make a pretty drawing and life is better again."</p><p>"Yeah, I..." Alex sighed, trying to sort through the haze in his mind. "I need some context here."</p><p>"You all got hammered because you miss Julie and Flynn and I brought you back here because I'm a great guy," he said with a smile as he sat on the foot of the bed.</p><p>"The best," Alex said as he leaned forward, falling into Willie's chest.</p><p>"What about Luke and Carrie?" Reggie asked.</p><p>"They're in the guest room," he said.</p><p>"So... where do we stand on last night's success?" Alex asked.</p><p>"It depends," Reggie said, rubbing his forehead as he sat up too. "If our goal was to make us feel shitty too, we did great. The good news is that Luke and Carrie drank more so they might have forgotten all about it."</p><p>"By the Angel, this is so depressing..." Alex said with a sigh.</p><p>"No, I think we can-" Reggie was cut off by his phone ringing. He reached into his pocket, his brows furrowing at the name on the screen. "Hello?" he answered, his voice not exactly giving off the sober, well rested vibe.</p><p>Alex raised his head again to look over at him. Reggie listened to whoever it was on the other line, his eyes suddenly going wide. His head snapped to Willie. "You said Luke and Carrie are inside?"</p><p>"Yeah?" Willie said confused.</p><p>"How sure are you about that?"</p><p>Willie squinted as he got up and went to look in the guest room.</p><p>"No, thank you, it's fine, yeah. We'll take care of it, thanks," Reggie started talking quickly, thanking whoever it was, rushing to hang up.</p><p>"What happened?" Alex asked, getting worried.</p><p>"We are never <em>ever</em> drinking again!" he said loudly. "I don't even know how to say this. It was George Penhallow, he was on the Seelie Court for some mission and he said he heard about two Shadowhunters barging into the Unseelie Court and that they were contained. Physical descriptions and names have been thrown around. They think they're spies."</p><p>"No... no, no," Alex said trying to wish his denial into existence, "they wouldn't... no..."</p><p>"Okay, do we freak out? Because they're not here, they must have left after I fell asleep," Willie came back inside the room.</p><p>"Shit! They did?" Alex shouted as he jumped up already taking his phone out of his pocket. "Why? <em>Why? </em>How does that even happen?" He scrolled down his contacts, dialing the number and putting the phone in his ear. "Call Julie," he told Reggie.</p><p>"Me? She's gonna be furious!" Reggie said.</p><p>"You wanna switch?" Alex nodded at his phone.</p><p>"I'm seriously thinking about it," he said, but they didn't have time to discuss it because Alex heard a 'hello' from the end of the line.</p><p>"Hey, Mark! So, Luke and Carrie have done something incredibly stupid..."</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Julie leaned against the piano, one hand slowly moving over the keys, playing the chorus to <em>Stand Tall</em>. Her mom had started writing many years ago, Julie had helped a little, but it'd stayed in the unfinished pile. It wasn't anymore, she and Luke having finished the melody, lyrics, added harmonies, guitar and then the guys bass and drums.</p><p>Ugh, okay, no, she could spend a few minutes without thinking about LA.</p><p>
  <em>Right?</em>
</p><p>Yeah, okay. Yeah, she could do this, it wasn't hard. Her whole life was in New York, she'd been living there ever since she was born she could go five minutes without thinking about everything she missed about Los Angeles. And everyone.</p><p>She kept playing the melody to <em>Stand Tall </em>until it turned into <em>Bright </em>and somehow ended up to <em>Perfect Harmony.</em></p><p>
  <em>No... Don't go there, it defies the whole purpose.</em>
</p><p>"God, we're miserable," she heard a voice and turned around to see Flynn coming inside the music room and sitting beside her. "Is this what life will be like from now on? You turning all songs to sad ballads and me staring at my knives wistfully from afar? We need to pull ourselves together!"</p><p>"Yeah, we can do this," Julie said, "it's not like we'll never see each other again. Or you know, visit each other again. Or play music with each other again, or like fall asleep at 5 am in the floor because we're writing songs and it's too late, but you can't stop because when the inspiration hits you just have to go with it even if it's 4:30 and you know Alex has threatened to lock that door so we can just get some sleep..."</p><p>Flynn looked at her for a few seconds. "God, we're miserable," she said again letting her head fall on top of the piano.</p><p>"I mean... It's not that bad..." Julie tried to reason with her.</p><p>"Life is boring, Jules. I miss LA, I miss Carrie, I miss the guys... I miss waking up to train at 8 am because you all do your band thing and don't hog the training rooms and I miss talking excitedly about weapons and techniques and I miss going on patrol and turning it into a competition and <em>I miss Los Angeles</em>, have I made it clear?"</p><p>"And like, writing country songs with Reggie and playing them when Luke's around and him leaving the room saying we don't know anything about music and then just talking with Alex because he's incredibly easy to talk to and has really helped me put so many things in perspective, you'd be surprised..."</p><p>"This is so sad," Flynn said, "we're so sad."</p><p>"We knew it was only going to last for a year..."</p><p>"So, so sad..."</p><p>Julie groaned, her head falling on top of the piano too. They could just be sad there together.</p><p>"Girls? Everything okay?" they heard her dad's voice coming from their left. They both raised their heads to look at him, standing in the doorframe.</p><p>"We are sad, Ray. Life is sad," Flynn said.</p><p>"Yeah... I've been meaning to talk to you about that," he said coming inside and sitting in one of the chairs in front of them. "You've both been miserable ever since you came back."</p><p>"Well, I wouldn't say misera-" Julie started to say.</p><p>"We're <em>miserable</em>, Ray," Flynn said putting as much emphasis as she could on it.</p><p>"You know the new Academy graduates are to go back to their Institutes in a few days, right?" he said.</p><p>"If we say yes, will you believe we were listening during the last briefing?" Flynn asked making Julie roll her eyes and hit her shoulder with hers.</p><p>"You also know that relocation is something that happens all the time?" he continued. "And that we would miss you terribly, but we really just want you to be happy?"</p><p>"Wait, how many graduates are we talking about? We already needed new recruits before we left," Julie asked suddenly intrigued, her heart beating a bit louder.</p><p>"Enough to justify letting the two of you go somewhere else where a couple more Shadowhunters wouldn't hurt," he said with a smile.</p><p>"Well, I've heard enough, have you heard enough?" Flynn said turning to look at Julie who still wasn't one hundred percent sure she had processed what her dad was saying. As soon as the buzzing in her head started clearing, she could suddenly feel adrenaline taking over her whole body, as she stood up, not able to stay still.</p><p>"Yeah, yes! Of course!" she said, trying not to scream.</p><p>She didn't have to when Flynn did it for her, lunging to hug Julie's father. "You're the best, Ray! I'm going to pack our things," she said, running out of the room as if they could just leave right now.</p><p>"Dad, are you- you're okay with this?" she turned to ask him. She wanted to go back, more than anything, and if the Institute wasn't in a Shadowhunter shortage already they'd been talking about it since long ago.</p><p>"Well, mija, I'm going to miss you. Both of you. But when you left last year to go over there you were doing Flynn a favor. When I saw you a few months later for the concert you looked the happiest I've ever seen you. I'd be a jerk of a dad if I took that away from you. You found yourself in LA, Julie," he said and got up too.</p><p>Julie looked at him with a smile, her eyes slightly watering. She closed the space between them, wrapping her arms around him. "Thank you," she said quietly.</p><p>He hugged her back. "That doesn't mean I don't expect you to visit regularly," he added his voice stern, but he was smiling.</p><p>"Of course," Julie said with a chuckle. "I love you, dad," she added.</p><p>"I love you too, mija," he said kissing her head.</p><p>She sniffled as she pulled back. The guys were going to lose their minds.</p><p>Before she could even think to call them though, her phone started ringing. She grabbed it from the top of the piano, seeing it was Reggie. She smiled as she answered.</p><p>"Hey, Reg, you'll never believe-" she started to say only to be cut off by him rambling. She didn’t try to sort through most of it because she thought it better for her mental stability, but one thing was clear in the end. </p><p>"<em>They did what?!</em>"</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>The door opened again, Luke and Carrie scrambling to get up. Two faerie knights escorted their King, but he dismissed them as soon as they were in. They looked like they wanted to argue, but they knew that wouldn't be the best course of action on their part. They closed the door as they left them alone.</p><p>"Kieran, hi," Luke said with a little wave trying to sound respectful enough because again, this was the King, but also he'd seen that guy eating in his kitchen and they'd sung together in the music room back home. He felt a bit more at ease with him. Not to say that he really knew him, he wasn't around as much, being the King of the Unseelie Court didn't allow him to move as freely, but there were loopholes. There were always loopholes.</p><p>He crossed his arms in front of him, looking at them with a raised eyebrow.</p><p>"This is just a big misunderstanding," Luke said.</p><p>"It is not every day that I get frantic messages from both Mark and Cristina making sure we haven't executed any wandering Shadowhunters in our land," he said.</p><p>"True, true..." Luke nodded his head not exactly sure where to go from there.</p><p>"Can you explain to me what happened here?" he asked.</p><p>"Well," Luke decided to just go with it, "there's this girl..."</p><p>"Two girls," Carrie piped in.</p><p>"Yes, two girls," Luke corrected, "and they were spending their travel year in our Institute, but then they had to go and long distance relationships are hard- no, you know that, okay, uhm," he tried to find the right words. "We just weren't taking it that well. I'm still not one hundred percent sure how we ended up here, but I can definitely tell you we were drunk and sad and probably mad with Shadowhunter protocols, I remember that being mentioned at some point... The point is, we're just stupidly in love. Definitely not spies."</p><p>Kieran sighed, almost wistfully. "The things we risk for love..."</p><p>"We will take it down a notch next time," Carrie said. "We enjoy living."</p><p>"You were never in any danger," he said. "You must understand however that Shadowhunters showing up uninvited is usually not a good sign."</p><p>"We would never dream of showing up uninvited," Luke said.</p><p>Kieran smiled. "You're free to go," he said, "I suppose we shouldn't let the matter extend any further."</p><p>"No, no," they both said, hoping that not many people knew.</p><p>Kieran moved to open the door. "I'm guessing your brother will still want to talk to you though."</p><p>Luke was not looking forward to the conversation. For the time being though he was just happy things had worked out.</p><p>He was even happier when they were on their way to the Institute, walking down the streets of LA.</p><p>"You think we can spin this around and blame it all on Alex and Reggie?" Luke asked.</p><p>"Of course we can, you were staring at the wall hitting the same key for two hours straight and I was throwing knives at the punching bags. We weren't bothering anyone," Carrie said.</p><p>"Right? And what about Willie? Because he cut us off at some point, so where did we find more alcohol?"</p><p>"Yes, exactly and like maybe five percent us too because we somehow wandered into the Unseelie Court, but that's completely irrelevant."</p><p>"Exactly, completely," Luke agreed. </p><p>They stayed silent for a few seconds until they bursted out laughing. And they really shouldn't be laughing because this was serious and it could have been much, much worse.</p><p>"We are so lucky your family has ties everywhere," Carrie said.</p><p>"I wouldn't say everywhere," Luke said, "but if we were to drunkingly stumble somewhere I think the Unseelie Court was our best chance, so good job to us on that front." He held out his fist for Carrie and she bumped it.</p><p>"The guys are gonna kill us," she said, "your family is going to kill us. <em>Julian and Mark</em> are going to kill us. We might as well be dead."</p><p>"Yeah, that's not going to be great," he said, still with a small smile. "But also you know, it was nice to get out of the Institute for a while."</p><p>"I'm sure there were better ways for us to spend our time out of the Institute," Carrie said still amused as they neared their home.</p><p>"Well, sure, but where's the fun in that?" Luke asked with a smile making Carrie shake her head.</p><p>They were opening the Institute gates only a couple of minutes later, bracing themselves for what was to come. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad, maybe they had just made a bigger deal out of it in their heads and it was just going to be fine.</p><p>Luke opened the door.</p><p>"What the hell is wrong with you two?" Alex shouted the second they'd stepped in the Institute, pulling them both in a hug. "Are you okay?" He pulled back to look at them up and down. </p><p>"We're fine," Luke said with a smile. "Just waiting for the aftermath."</p><p>"Causing a diplomatic episode will do that to you," Reggie showed up from the kitchen with a smile.</p><p>"Okay, let's not go as far as to call it-" Carrie started to say when a fond shout interruped everyone.</p><p>"You caused a diplomatic episode for me?" Flynn came out from the kitchen too and ran towards Carrie, jumping on her, taking them both a few steps back and kissed her. "Aw, babe, you shouldn't have."</p><p>"<em>You caused a diplomatic episode for me?" </em>came a second voice that sounded much more furious than Flynn's, but Luke couldn't help the smile on his face when Julie emerged from the kitchen as well. "We leave for <em>one week </em>and you cause a <em>diplomatic episode</em>?" she said coming up in front of him.</p><p>"Oh come on, Jules, don't pretend you were doing great," Flynn said, still clinging onto Carrie.</p><p>"I didn't say I was doing great, but I didn't cause a diplomatic episode either!" Julie said.</p><p>And Luke knew she was right and she had every right to be mad, but also like, Julie was right there in front of him and he hadn't seen her <em>in a week</em>. He didn't waste any more time and pulled her into a hug, burying his face in her neck. He didn't know how long she was there for, the guys had probably told them what had happened and they'd come to make sure they were okay. She could shout at him all she wanted, but he really just needed to hug her first.</p><p>"Luke, you can't just," she started, but he felt her relax against him as she hugged him back, "you can't just do this to win an argument."</p><p>"No, you can keep going, what we did was stupid, but I haven't seen you in a week and I don't know when I'll see you again, so let me just hug you for a while," he said quietly.</p><p>He heard Julie chuckling against him. Against every cell in his body and pulled back to look at her confused. "What is it?"</p><p>"Nothing, just," she said with a smile, "I woke up today feeling really, you know..."</p><p>"Miserable," Flynn supplied from behind them.</p><p>"Yeah, that." Julie chuckled again, making no sense to Luke. He glanced at Reggie and Alex who didn't seem to understand what was going on either. "And then Flynn and I had an epiphany."</p><p>"Thanks to Ray for actually paying attentions during briefings," Flynn said.</p><p>"Yes, we should probably do something about that, you know," Julie continued, "and then Reggie calls and I'm still not one hundred percent sure what he said makes sense."</p><p>"It doesn't, but that's what happened," Reggie said.</p><p>"Right," Julie said, "and I came here well on my way to freak out, Flynn came because she found the whole situation hilarious..."</p><p>"I mean..." Flynn said while leaning on Carrie. "This is just so on brand, I'm glad to see nothing has changed."</p><p>"Nothing has ch- These two are falling apart!" Alex blurted out pointing at Luke and Carrie.</p><p>"I would defend myself, but after today I don't think I can," Carrie said, Flynn still smiling at her.</p><p>"And believe me, I'm still freaking out because guys, really, what the fuck happened yesterday," she said partly serious, but also partly curious and just a tiny bit amused. It was there, Luke could see it. "But also like, after Reggie called, Flynn came in asking me if I'm buying a new hair straightener here or if I'm taking my own and I honestly find that kind of funny after everything."</p><p>Luke tilted his head confused, trying to make sense of what she was saying. Glancing at the others around him was enough to realize that no one was really sure what was Julie talking about. Other than Flynn that was, who was still beaming next to Carrie.</p><p>"You lost us at hair straightener," Alex said.</p><p>"Yeah," she said with a chuckle. "So, the epiphany Flynn and I had after talking to my dad was that relocating is actually a thing that happens."</p><p>Everyone stayed silent for a couple of seconds. Luke wanted to talk, he wanted to say <em>a lot </em>but he also needed a second to make sure he'd understood correctly.</p><p>"I thought you said the New York Institute already had a Shadowhunter shortage when you first left," Reggie eventually said.</p><p>"Which is true, but the new Academy graduates are coming back in a few days and a lot of them are coming to us, so you know, we're free to go," Flynn said, "with Ray's blessing too."</p><p>"You're coming back here?" Luke finally found the words to speak. "To stay? Permanently?"</p><p>"If you want us, sure. Flynn has already emptied half my closet," Julie said with a smile.</p><p>"You're not messing with me," he said.</p><p>"No," Julie said.</p><p>"Because if you're messing with me I'm gonna cry."</p><p>"You're gonna cry either way and so am I," Julie said.</p><p>"That's true," Luke said and crushed Julie into a hug again, lifting her up and spinning around once, making her squeal. "I love you so, so much. <em>So much</em>," he said as he put her back down, trying to emphasize it as much as he could.</p><p>Julie grinned as she leaned in and kissed him. God, he just loved that girl so much. "I love you too," she said. "The next time you cause a diplomatic episode though, I'm not calling anyone."</p><p>"Noticed how she said 'the next time' and not 'if'?" Alex said with a snort. "We've missed you, Julie."</p><p>"Aww, you guys," Julie said as she moved in to hug Reggie and Alex. "I missed you too."</p><p>"Wait, who did you call?" Luke asked confused.</p><p>"Cristina," Julie said without letting the guys go, "haven't talked to her in a couple of months and now calling her to say 'hey, my friends are idiots'."</p><p>"I think it turned out pretty well for us," Carrie said still holding Flynn against her, her head on her shoulder.</p><p>"Yeah, wait until we let you go and the Blackthorns find you," Reggie said.</p><p>"I don't care," Luke said, joining in the hug around Julie.</p><p>"Ooh group hug," Flynn said as she and Carrie joined them on Julie's other side.</p><p>"This is nice," Julie said with a sigh.</p><p>"Almost a pity that Luke and Carrie are heading to their deaths," Alex said.</p><p>"We'll remember them fondly," Flynn reassured him.</p><p>"Do you guys wanna go hide out at the music room until the storm hits?" Reggie suggested.</p><p>"Yes!" Flynn said. "I need to hear something happy again, Julie turned <em>Flying Solo </em>into a sad ballad. It was getting worse you guys."</p><p>"How do you turn that into a ballad?" Reggie asked as they all pulled back.</p><p>"I have talent, Reg." Julie flipped her hair over her shoulder with a chuckle.</p><p>"So much talent," Luke said, pulling her close to him again, planning not to let her go for a while. </p><p>They suddenly heard footsteps coming from upstairs. "Okay, but we need to go like, right now," Alex said as they all rushed to leave the lobby and ran to the music room.</p><p>"Finally, we get to hear some actual piano playing, Luke has been pressing the same key for the past week," Reggie said.</p><p>"Which key?" Julie asked.</p><p>"That's your question?" Alex said.</p><p>"I'm just curious," Julie defended, falling back into an easy banter with all of them. Luke had to restrain himself from pulling her into a hug again before they were in the actual music room.</p><p>As soon as they were safe - at least partially because who wouldn't look in the music room - Julie ran over to the piano, finding her seat on the bench, instinctively leaving room for Luke to sit beside her. He grabbed his guitar, sitting right were he was supposed to be, as Reggie took his bass and Alex sat behind the drums. Carrie and Flynn got comfortable in the window bench, everything finally back the way they were supposed to be.</p><p>"Which song?" Luke asked.</p><p>"<em>Stand Tall</em>?" Julie offered.</p><p>"Woo!" Flynn started hyping them up as always, making them laugh.</p><p>Julie started playing the intro and then slipped into the song. Luke was having flashbacks of the first time he'd heard her sing, of the complete shock that had hit him in the middle of the night and he couldn't get over how a human person could have such an amazing voice.</p><p>Alex and Reggie joined in and finally himself. Singing and harmonizing with Julie.</p><p>He glanced over at Carrie who looked at him with a smile. He smiled back. And yes, they would probably have to talk with his brother later, but right now? Everything was right in the world. And that feeling wasn't going away anytime soon.</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>